Immigration is among the most important economic and political issues and a main topic of discourse and debate among policymakers and the public. But misperceptions persist about many fundamental aspects of this crucial topic.
This FAQ addresses essential background and facts, as well as frequently asked questions, with short answers that include relevant data and extensive citations to key sources.
1. How many immigrants live in the United States?
3. What is the makeup of the U.S. immigrant population in terms of race and ethnicity?
4. How much do immigrants contribute to the economy?
5. How many immigrants work in the United States?
6. How much workforce growth has been attributable to immigration?
7. What are the education and wage levels of immigrants?
8. What are the top occupations for immigrants?
9. How do immigrants affect the economy?
10. Do immigrant workers affect wages for U.S. workers?
11. Immigration policy often favors employers over workers and needs to be reformed.
Unauthorized immigrants and the economy
1. How many unauthorized immigrants live in the United States?
2. Which regions and countries are unauthorized immigrants from?
3. How many unauthorized immigrants work in the U.S.?
5. What is the fiscal impact of unauthorized immigrants at the state and federal level?
6. Unauthorized immigrants are generally ineligible for public benefits like SNAP and SSI.
7. What will mass deportation do to the economy?
8. What are the policy options for current U.S. residents who are unauthorized immigrants?
Immigration enforcement in the workplace
1. What are ICE worksite raids and I-9 inspections?
2. How many I-9 inspections does ICE carry out every year?
3. What effects do worksite raids have on workers and communities? What about employers?
5. How does E-Verify impact worker rights and the economy?
A note about terminology
In the first 3 sections of the FAQ, we have mostly used the term “immigrant” in the broad sense in which it is often used in the United States, to mean anyone who is foreign-born.
However, the term “immigrant” in U.S. law has a specific meaning. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security defines an immigrant as “Any person lawfully in the United States who is not a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or person admitted under a nonimmigrant [visa] category as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section 101(a)(15).”
In practical terms, U.S. law defines an immigrant much more narrowly than common usage does as a lawful permanent resident with a green card. According to common usage, someone who is foreign-born and previously held a green card but has become a naturalized U.S. citizen is also an immigrant.
The word “migrant” is a broader term that can encompass anyone who is foreign-born and may have arrived in the United States in any of the other pathways, such as with a temporary visa or without authorization or who is in a quasi-status that provides temporary protection from deportation. But the term “migrant” can also include immigrants in some cases or is sometimes used interchangeably with the term “immigrant.” Ideally, persons who arrive through humanitarian pathways like asylum-seekers, asylees, and refugees should be specified as such, but common usage of the term “migrant” (for example, in news reports) often labels them simply as migrants, especially when their status or method of arrival is unknown.
In sections 4-7 of the FAQ, which focus on the different immigration statuses and pathways, such as green cards, temporary work visas, and different humanitarian protections, we do our best to refer to green card holders as immigrants and people in other temporary statuses as migrants, and to specify the humanitarian pathway or status—such as asylum-seeker or refugee—when applicable.
Acknowledgments
The Immigration FAQ was a collaborative effort among EPI researchers. In addition to the listed coauthors, the first two sections, “Immigrants and the economy” and “Unauthorized immigrants and the economy,” included significant contributions from Ismael Cid-Martinez, Monique Morrissey, and Daniel Perez.